Many killed in Iraq attacks

At least 19 people are reported dead following bomb blasts in Falluja, Diyala and Baghdad.

12 Apr 2011 08:21 GMT

A double bombing in Falluja claimed six of the 19 lives lost to multiple blasts in Iraq on Monday [Reuters]

Two bomb explosions near a crowded market in the Iraqi city of Falluja have killed at least six people and injured two dozens others, while two separate roadside bomb blasts in Diyala province have claimed 10 lives.

In a separate incident in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, a roadside bomb killed three people, bringing the total number of people killed on Monday to at least 19.

While violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in recent years, the government and security forces continue to battle an insurgency that has been carrying out attacks on an almost daily basis.

US forces are due to withdraw from the country by the end of the year.

The first blast in central Falluja killed two policemen with a bomb disposal unit that was sent to dismantle a car bomb. A second device exploded shortly after the first, killing four civilians, an interior ministry source told Reuters.

A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the first explosion was caused by a roadside bomb, and the second was a car bomb.

"The roadside bomb exploded on a main road near a crowded market. When people gathered to evacuate casualties a nearby car bomb exploded," the officer said.

Nadhum Hadeed, a spokesman for Falluja hospital, said the facility received five bodies and 25 wounded people, and was in need of blood donations to treat the injured.

Diyala bombings

The bombings in Diyala occured in a village near the town of Khan Bani Saad, about 30km northeast of Baghdad. At least six members of a family were killed by the first blast, and four people who went to help them died in a second explosion, the Diyala police said.

The Associated Press news agency reported that those who were killed belonged to a Shia Muslim family that had recently returned to reclaim the plot of land in Diyala where the explosions occured.

A source at the local morgue said it had received the bodies of two men, three women and a child killed in the first blast as they returned home from farm fields in a pickup truck.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded in the southeastern district of Jisr Diyala, killing three people and injuring 11, an interior ministry source said.